


Crystal

by Burgie



Series: Magic School AU [4]
Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2016-11-08
Packaged: 2018-08-29 20:48:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8504869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Written for a writing prompt I found last year. Katja dies but leaves behind a mysterious crystal.





	

Alex frowned at the pounding she heard on her room’s door.

“Go away,” Alex called out, trying to concentrate on her spellwork. She just had to nail this spell, and then she’d be able to pass her next magic exam.

“Alex, it’s urgent,” said Anne through the door. She sounded concerned, and Alex could just picture the crease between Anne’s eyebrows.

“What is it?” asked Alex, reluctantly putting her wand away and closing the spell book (she used to use the wand as a bookmark until the Great Dormitory Fire). She walked to the door and opened it, where she found Anne exactly as she’d expected.

“It’s your demon,” said Anne. “The druids found her.”

“Oh no,” said Alex, looking pale all of a sudden.

“I know, now you’re going to get in so much tr-“

“I have to save her.” Anne tried to call out after Alex, but the girl had already taken her wand out and teleported to where she could feel Katja.

It was in a classroom, of course. The place stank of chalk and discharged magic, but those usual smells were joined now by the smell of burning candles and incense and blood. The source of the blood was lying in the middle of a magic circle, runes burnt onto her body. 

“Katja, are you still alive?” asked Alex. Asking her if she was okay would be pointless, of course she wasn’t okay. Not when she was lying on a magic circle composed largely of her own blood.

“Yes,” Katja whispered. “But I don’t have long left.”

“No,” said Alex, blinking away tears. “No, you’re not dying, you can’t die. Don’t die on me, I demand it!” Normally, her tongue and throat felt strange when she told Katja to do something (which wasn’t very often).

“Keep the crystal,” said Katja, reaching a hand up to touch it. She left a smear of blood on the surface, and her entire body trembled.

“No,” said Alex. She knew her voice sounded pathetic, but she couldn’t help it. “Don’t die, I love you.”

“You finally said it,” said Katja, and gave a tiny smile. “I love you too, you know. Keep the crystal, my love. And remember me.”

There wasn’t even a body to bury. Katja faded away into a spirit when her heart finally stopped, and Alex was left clutching empty air. She got to her feet, shaking and sobbing, and then released the druids that had been held in the stasis field of Soul Strike (on stun mode).

Alex didn’t even care that she was confined to her bedroom and forbidden from casting for a month. She had no reason to cast, not without Katja. She didn’t even want to leave her room. Nobody could convince her to leave, not even her friends or teachers. The necklace still hung around her neck, empty now. Alex could feel it. She’d tried calling Katja, but nothing had happened. The necklace had remained as it was, just an empty crystal. She’d tried everything. Casting spells on it (after her month of it being forbidden), submerging it in various potions and liquids, heating or cooling it to different temperatures. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

At last, one day, Alex returned to her room in a rage. The teachers had been lecturing her for weeks about how irresponsible she’d been in summoning a demon. Never mind that she’d fallen in love with her (though she was also lectured on that). Never mind that Katja had been nothing but good and obedient, or that Alex had only had to use her hold over Katja to make her behave in the beginning.

“They just don’t listen,” Alex whispered, and then she screamed her rage and tore the necklace from her neck. It flew towards the stone wall, where it shattered. Immediately, Alex felt fear go through her heart. “No,” she said, and repeated the word over and over as she ran to the spot where shards of crystal lay on the stone floor. She picked up the shattered crystal, pieces falling between her fingers. She closed her eyes and wept. Now there was no way to get Katja back.

“Well, it took you long enough.” At the sound of her voice, Alex jumped to her feet and spun around, staring at her bed where the voice had come from. Katja was sitting there, looking as beautiful and unharmed and real as ever.

“Katja?” she asked anyway, just to be sure.

“Yes,” said Katja, and smiled. “I’m here. I’m real. I’m not some figment of your imagination.”

“But how?” asked Alex, slowly edging closer to her. She was half afraid that Katja would become nothing if she moved too fast.

“I hid in the crystal,” said Katja. “That’s why I told you to keep it. I just didn’t have time to tell you how to free me before I…”

“I know,” said Alex. “I understand. But was there really no way that you could tell me?”

“No, there wasn’t,” said Katja. “And I wish there had been. Seeing you mourn for me over these months and not being able to do anything to help… it broke my heart. I didn’t know I’d be trapped in there, I just thought that I’d be able to return like before. But when I died, my magic vanished. I had to use some magic to be able to get out, after all, to change from a spirit to the beautiful woman you see before you now.”

Alex let out a sob and finally reached the bed, throwing her arms around Katja. Katja returned the embrace, holding Alex close to her.

“I love you,” Alex sobbed. “I love you, I love you, I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you before.”

“I know,” said Katja, and kissed her. Alex returned the kiss, grateful just to be in Katja’s arms again. And to have Katja here, with her. Loving her.


End file.
